Wyatt rewarded for sticking to her guns as England secure series
Danni Wyatt is prepared to fail more often than not if it means she can play the sort of innings that propelled England to a 3-0 clean sweep of Pakistan in their T20 series at Headingley.
After two single-figure scores in this three-match series and having been unable to pass 21 in any of her last 10 innings across formats, Wyatt found some fluency with a sparkling 87 off 48 balls on Sunday.
While she was dropped on 12, 79 and 81, Wyatt peeled off a dozen fours and England’s lone six to underpin a total of 176 all out, which was enough for a 34-run win as Pakistan settled on 142 for four.
“I failed in the first two games so I really wanted a score but also I wasn’t getting too stressed about it because I’ve had ups and downs for most of my career,” the England opener said.
“The intent I have means I’m going to fail more times than I come off. But (head coach) Jon (Lewis) wants us to go out there and take the game on from ball one, which is what I do when I’m at my best.
“In T20 cricket, you’ve just got to back yourself and not have a fear of failure.
Wyatt has scored two of England’s four T20 hundreds and admitted she has been eyeing her third ton “for years”, before adding: “Hopefully I’ll get there one day.”
England have won five in a row in this format as well as three successive series as they build towards the T20 World Cup, which will take place in Bangladesh in October.
England captain Heather Knight told Sky Sports. “We’re tracking really well. There’s always things we can do better and we’ve got a few things to tune up but we’re still moving forward as a side.”
England now turn their attentions to a three-match ODI series against the same opponents which starts on Thursday at Derby.
“We haven’t played a huge amount of ODI cricket recently so pleased to play a bit more more,” Knight added.
For exclusive stories and all the detailed cricket news you need, subscribe to The Cricket Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.